The recent shake up in Apple’s executives has left Jonathan Ive in charge of software design as well as hardware design. This change up could have Apple’s next big software release featuring some big changes.
Jonathan Ive has always pushed the idea of keeping things simple and clean and he will likely bring this mentality into play when working with Apple’s software. In every corner of OSX and even iOS, you will find bits and pieces of texture and art incorporated right into the UI. One only needs to perform a few common tasks on any Apple OS to find these little decorations. For instance, the wooden bookshelves in iBooks, linen textures on the side panels, and torn paper on the calendar, these are all things that Ive will likely remove in future versions.
I personally don’t have a problem with them but then again I don’t have any doubt that Jonathan Ive will do a great job in overseeing the design aspect of Apple’s software. Simplicity can be just as beautiful as any decorative pattern or texture. If anything, the application itself should be the centerpiece not what surrounds it, but there needs to be some balance. Take away too much and you risk making the OS feel too utilitarian and dull but add too much and it can become distracting. Some critics of Apple believe that these little decorations date the software and make it look silly. It will be interesting to see what the critics say about Ive’s spin on the next generation of Apple OS software.
I can’t help but wonder what other changes are in the works for the next release of Mac OS. It’s not perfect but OSX has been around for sometime now and it’s still just as enjoyable to use as it ever has been. Will we see a move away form the Dock? It is possible that the next Mac OS will more closely resemble iOS, even more than it does already. This seems to be the case with Windows 8 which feels a lot like Windows phone and the Xbox dashboard mashed together. I feel the Dock is effective and elegant but at times unnecessary.
I like the way iOS handles open applications by keeping them out of view at the bottom of the screen, you only need to swipe up to access them. I would like to see the new Mac OS handle open applications in a similar way. I understand you can hide the dock but it’s just not the same. We could have open applications and their corresponding windows be in this bottom slide while all of our other applications could be accessed through the Launchpad. Also, since the Dock will be removed, we will need a quick way to access the Launchpad, preferably by gesture.
We can only offer up our best suggestions, but given Apple’s record of releasing OS software we technically should have little to fear. We will just have to wait and see what Ive and the crew at Apple come up with.